10/03/2026
Hi, everyone. This is John, Local Liquid founder. I'd like to share some personal news for all my Bier Station/Local Liquid friends.
Almost 10 years ago, Bier Station hosted a fundraiser for an upstart organization called Kanbe's Markets. At the time, it was the brainchild of Max Kaniger, who, coincidentally, we had bought Bier Station's first commercial refrigerator from because I was friends with Max's Mom, Gabrielle Kaniger.
Max had a visionary concept: to turn food waste into food access by rescuing food from large wholesalers that was destined for landfills. Instead, Kanbe's created grassroots networks to divert, sort, and deliver fresh food to underserved communities.
In the 10 years since, Kanbe's Markets has grown exponentially. In fact, in the next few weeks, Kanbe's monthly food diversion will increase from about 150,000 pounds to up to 1 million pounds. Imagine Arrowhead Stadium's entire field filled with enough food to cover Patrick Mahomes. We're talking that much food per year.
A few weeks ago, Max and Gabe met with me and asked if I'd be interested in using my Bier Station community experience to help lead Kanbe's community outreach efforts during this huge expansion.
I absolutely loved working with Local Liquid coffee roaster partners, but the chance to help feed so many more KC families was too much to pass up. So, this week, we decided to shut down Local Liquid as I joined Kanbe's team.
Thank you to everyone who supported Bier Station and Local Liquid! Your support meant the world to me. And, I plan to bring Bier Station vibes to Kanbe's. In fact, we partnered this week with Nate Sellergren from Samuel Adams to provide drinks for our upcoming Ugly Dinner at Prima Facie. Thank you, Nate and Sam Adams! BTW, tickets here:
https://www.kanbesmarkets.org/kan.../ugly-dinner-prima-facie
Finally, I invite you to join us this Fall to learn more about Kanbe's and partner with us to sort the massive amounts of food we will be saving soon. Feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] and I'll even give you a tour. Shifts are just 2 hours long, really fun, and perfect for individuals, groups, schools and companies. You can also sign up here to get started.
https://www.kanbesmarkets.org/volunteer
Thank you for everything, KC! And, please keep supporting our local restaurants, bars, breweries, and Local Liquid's coffee roaster partners including Post Coffee Company Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters, Crows Coffee, Hammerhand Coffee, Oddly Correct, Uplift Coffee Co, Blip Roasters, Sway Coffee Roasters, Cafe Corazon, All the Love Roasting, and Broadway Cafe and Roasting Company.
